Justin Kendall provides daily coverage of the beer industry on Brewbound.com, conducts live-streamed interviews during Brewbound’s events and co-produces the Brewbound podcast. Kendall is a nearly 20-year career journalist who led alt-weekly newspapers in Kansas City, Missouri, and Des Moines, Iowa.
Blue Moon inventor Keith Villa, who retired from MillerCoors in January after a storied 32-year career, isn’t leaving the beer business after all. Much of the press following his departure from the country’s second-largest beer company centered around the launch of Ceria Beverages, a startup focused on releasing a line of non-alcoholic craft beers containing THC. At the same time, however, Villa and his wife, Jodi, had quietly launched Donavon Brewing Company in their hometown of Arvada, Colorado.
Another longtime Ninkasi Brewing executive has left the building. In an email to Brewbound, Ninkasi co-founder and CEO Nikos Ridge confirmed that CFO Nigel Francisco left the Eugene, Oregon-based craft brewery in June, after about a decade, in order to pursue a similar role with King Estate Winery, which is also located in Eugene. In an unrelated move, the craft brewery also laid off three employees in the marketing and communications departments, Ridge confirmed.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: In-state sales are on the rise in Michigan; Baderbrau is set for an August auction; another round of brewery closures hit in Colorado, California and Georgia; and more beer industry news.
Want to know what a craft beer drinker looks like in America? According to Nielsen, a weekly craft drinker is predominantly male, ages 21-34, and makes between $75,000 and $99,000 annually. Although that’s the profile of a frequent craft drinker, opportunities exist to reach a more diverse group of consumers, according to the research firm, which today shared the results of its fourth annual Craft Beer Insights Panel (CIP) survey, conducted by Harris Poll and commissioned by the Brewers Association (BA).
A growing number of Boston-area beer companies have turned to pop-up beer gardens in an effort to engage consumers during the summer months. Despite an array of outdoor options for drinkers to grab a beer on a hot summer day, Boston-area craft brewery Night Shift still sees opportunity to expose local consumers to its brands.
Oklahoma City-based COOP Ale Works today announced a $20 million project to revitalize the 23rd Street National Guard Armory and transform the vacated 87,000 sq. ft. space into a manufacturing brewery, restaurant, event space and boutique hotel. Following a 9-month request-for-proposal process, the state’s Office of Management and Enterprise Services awarded COOP the 80-year-old art deco building, which was once headquarters for the 45th Division Infantry but was shuttered in 2010.
As Colorado-headquartered Avery Brewing prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary next month, internally the company has restructured its sales team and added several new departments. Speaking to Brewbound, Avery national sales and marketing director Brian “BK” Krueger said “less than 10 percent” of the company’s sales and marketing workforce was impacted, and that net job loss totaled two field sales positions.
In this week’s Last Call: A look at California beer production; Sen. Schumer backs permanent excise tax cuts; TTB accepts $20,000 offer in compromise from Cigar City; and more beer industry news.
As sales of U.S. craft beer have begun to slow, so too has the appetite for domestic dealmaking. More recently, however, there’s been an uptick in the number of international craft acquisitions — including a pair of well-regarded London-based breweries. London’s Fourpure Brewing Co. announced today a 100 percent sale to Australia-headquartered and Kirin-owned Lion Pty Limited.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: Tivoli sues Montucky Cold Snacks over brand rights; President Trump’s trade war with China escalates; Jake Leinenkugel seeks medical marijuana study for military vets; New Belgium joins the American Hemp Campaign; H-E-B begins beer and wine delivery; and more news.
The Brewers Association (BA) announced a sponsorship deal earlier this week to feature a Buffalo Wild Wings branded pop-up sports bar on the floor of the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), its marquee tasting and judging event held annually in Denver. The partnership with the chicken wing chain, which was acquired last November by Arby’s for $2.9 billion, is the second major sponsorship deal for the late September festival. In early June, the BA announced that Pernod Ricard-owned Jameson would build a barrel-aged beer garden on the festival floor.
Wilmington, North Carolina-based Ironclad Brewery has established a venture capital business unit in order to invest its profits into other startups. Speaking to Brewbound, CEO Ted Coughlin said Ironclad will make investments in the beer space as well as other sectors with significant growth potential. He added that Ironclad will invest its profits — which he estimates will average about $200,000 annually — in about eight startup companies a year.
Upstart Texas beer maker Hop & Sting Brewing Company has purchased the assets and brands of Grapevine Craft Brewery from owner Glen Harrod. Financial terms of the deal — which did not include the building and land — were not disclosed, but Hop & Sting co-owner Brian Burton told Brewbound that “it was something just barely within our budget.”
After more than two years of construction, noted gypsy brewer Grimm Artisanal Ales will open its first brick-and-mortar brewery in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn on Saturday, June 30.